The Sentry Tournament of Champions kicked off the 2022 Hawaii swing last week with Cameron Smith getting his 4th career win. The Tour now heads over to the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu for the 2022 Sony Open. That puts Smith in the driver seat as the favorite heading into Thursday’s opening round.
Smith won this event two years ago and is the lone favorite in a tournament that has been known for ending in a playoff over recent years. That’s the way things have unfolded in 3 of the last 6 Sony Opens. That stat includes Smith who took down Brendan Steele in his 2020 win during a playoff.
It’s also an event where there are plenty of players, aka value picks, down the odds list that can pull off a win with a strong showing. Here are the favorites coming in at +2200 and under to win the 2022 Sony Open outright.
Cameron Smith +900
Webb Simpson +1400
Sungjae Im +1600
Hideki Matsuyama +1800
Marc Leishman +2200
2022 Sony Open Preview
Where: Honolulu, Hawaii
Course: Waialae Country Club
Par: 72
Length: 7,044
When: January 13-16, 2022
Purse: $7.5 million
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
The Waialae Country Club is relatively flat compared to last week at the Plantation course which played on the side of one of the Island’s mountains. The course is a visual stunner with tight fairways but generous landing areas. The rough, medium cut, runs off into native flora and bunkers. The greens are designed for being able to move the pin around to take advantage of false fronts and plateaus.
Wind could be a factor, if so, look for players to go low as if they were in St Andrews over in Scotland. Wedge play and a hot putter always come in handy at Waialae.
The course has several holes based on famous golf links from around the world such as No. 8 which is patterned after the Redan hole on the North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland. The No. 10 also has a Scottish theme, it includes design features of the “Road Hole” at St. Andrews. And No. 13 is patterned after the Biarritz Course in France.
2022 Sony Open Picks
Cameron Smith +900
There’s a reason that Cameron Smith is the favorite this weekend. He’s coming off a big win last week at the Tournament of Champions and he won this event two years ago. Plus, he’s made the cut in all six of his Sony Open appearances. Smith carved up the course last week with his driver and put on a show with his short irons and putter.
Corey Conners +2500
Corey Conners is 3 for 3 in his Sony Open starts and plays this course well. He finished with a T3 in 2019 and carded a T12 in 2020. Conners is coming off a handful of events where he’s finished with a T17 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a T5 at the QBE Shootout. Last season he clicked off 18 of 20 events where he made it to weekend play – with top-25 finishes in 13 of those.
Matt Jones +4000
Matt Jones finished solo 3 rd last week at the Tournament of Champions due to an accurate driver and near-perfect approach shots. Jones now has 4 professional wins with two of them being on the PGA Tour. Last season he went 62 and 61 on the weekend at this event which was the best scoring for those two days.
Others: Harris English (+3300) is a threat every time he tees it up and especially if he’s put his back injury behind him. Charles Howell III (+6000) has never won the Sony Open but he’s the all-time money winner for this event.
2022 Sony Open Odds
Cameron Smith +900
Webb Simpson +1400
Sungjae Im +1600
Hideki Matsuyama +1800
Marc Leishman +2200
Corey Conners +2500
Kevin Na +2500
Abraham Ancer +2800
Talor Gooch +2800
Russell Henley +3300
Kevin Kisner +3300
Harris English +3300
Matt Jones +4000
Jason Kokrak +4000
Billy Horschel +4000
Seamus Power +4000
Maverick McNealy +4500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5000
Cameron Davis +5000
Si-Woo Kim +5000
Charles Howell III +6000
Joel Dahmen +6600
Chris Kirk +6600
Ryan Palmer +6600
Erik Van Rooyen +6600
Brian Harman +6600
Matt Kuchar +6600
Keith Mitchell +6600
Brendan Steele +6600
Aaron Rai +8000
Lucas Herbert +8000
Brendon Todd +8000
Denny McCarthy +8000
Keegan Bradley +8000
Tom Hoge +8000
Chez Reavie +8000
Takumi Kanaya +8000
Patton Kizzire +8000
Stewart Cink +8000
Adam Long +10000
Emiliano Grillo +10000
Zach Johnson +10000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +10000
Brian Stuard +12500
Robert Streb +12500
John Huh +12500
Branden Grace +12500
Hayden Buckley +12500
Russell Knox +12500
Alex Smalley +12500
Henrik Norlander +12500
Taylor Pendrith +12500
Hudson Swafford +12500
Brandt Snedeker +12500
Chad Ramey +12500
Rory Sabbatini +12500
Kramer Hickok +15000
Adam Schenk +15000
Lucas Glover +15000
JJ Spaun +15000
Cameron Young +15000
Scott Piercy +15000
Michael Thompson +15000
Tyler Duncan +15000
Harry Higgs +15000
Hank Lebioda +15000
Jim Furyk +15000
Pat Perez +15000
Stephan Jaeger +15000
Mark Hubbard +15000
Vincent Whaley +15000
Nick Hardy +15000
Keita Nakajima +20000
Davis Riley +20000
Kyle Stanley +20000
Rikuya Hoshino +20000
Andrew Putnam +20000
Sepp Straka +20000
Ryan Moore +20000
Greyson Sigg +20000
Max McGreevy +20000
Graeme McDowell +20000
Sahith Theegala +20000
Lee Hodges +20000
Andrew Novak +25000
Austin Cook +25000
Chan Kim +25000
Kevin Tway +25000
Peter Malnati +25000
Dylan Wu +25000
Brandon Wu +25000
Jim Herman +25000
Roger Sloan +25000
Nate Lashley +25000
JT Poston +25000
Wesley Bryan +25000
David Lipsky +25000
HaoTong Li +30000
Kurt Kitayama +30000
Adam Svensson +30000
Justin Lower +30000
Joseph Bramlett +30000
Sam Ryder +30000
Trey Mullinax +30000
Michael Gligic +30000
Jimmy Walker +30000
David Skinns +30000
Satoshi Kodaira +30000
Brian Gay +30000
Seth Reeves +30000
Richy Werenski +30000
Joshua Creel +30000
Sung Kang +30000
Jim Knous +30000
Beau Hossler +30000
Chesson Hadley +30000
Luke Donald +30000
Kelly Kraft +30000
Ben Kohles +30000
Austin Smotherman +30000
Scott Gutschewski +30000
Kevin Chappell +30000
Bill Haas +50000
William McGirt +50000
Curtis Thompson +50000
Martin Trainer +50000
Brett Drewitt +50000
Dawie Van Der Walt +50000
Jared Wolfe +50000
Paul Barjon +50000
Callum Tarren +50000
Jerry Kelly +50000
Parker McLachlin +200000
Peter Jung +200000
Garrett Okamura +200000
Kevin Carll +200000
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